World
Heavy losses on Asian stock exchanges were being offset by trading in Europe as markets neared their close Tuesday. Following the sharp downturn on Wall Street Monday, the Nikkei index in Japan fell 6.4 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 5 percent, the ASX 200 in Australia closed 4.2 percent lower, and similar declines were reported in India, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines. But, leading European indexes, the DAX in Germany was up 2.7 percent in late trading.
For "committing willful killings and crimes against humanity," Iraq's High Tribunal sentenced "Chemical Ali," Saddam Hussein's cousin, to hang. But the verdict can be appealed, and no date for Ali Hassan al-Majeed's execution was set. He also was ordered to be hanged last year, but legal wrangling has prevented the sentence from being carried out. Majeed became notorious for a ruthless crackdown against thousands of Shiites after their 1991 uprising against Hussein.
Canada's newly reelected minority government blasted the unprecedented agreement by opposition parties to take power following a vote of no-confidence in Parliament next Monday. Heritage Minister James Moore said the Liberal and New Democratic parties had "lied" in promising not to form a coalition against the Conservatives if they lost the Oct. 14 election. Instead, they signed a deal Monday with the separatist Bloc Quebecois to ensure that the no-confidence vote passes and to install Liberal leader Stephane Dion as prime minister.
Four more people were killed in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday despite pleas from the city's political leaders for calm. The latest casualties bring the number of deaths to more than 40. At least 70 others have been hurt in fighting between majority Urdu speakers and Pashtuns that began Saturday.
An American cruise ship outran pirates off the coast of Somalia and escaped a hijacking attempt, maritime officials said Tuesday. The Nautica, owned by Miami-based Oceania Cruises, was en route from Rome to Singapore at the time. The pirates reportedly fired shots, but none of the more than 1,000 people aboard the Nautica were hurt. The incident took place Sunday despite patrolling in the Gulf of Aden by US and other warships.
A colonel in Mexico's Army assumed charge over the policing of Tijuana as drug-related violence in the border city spiraled higher. Civilian Chief Alberto Capella was fired from his post Monday after the discoveries of 37 more murder victims, nine of whom had been beheaded. More than 350 people have been killed in Tijuana since rival drug traffickers began their turf war about two months ago.
Citing the collapse of Zimbabwe's sanitation and water-delivery systems, the World Health Organization said cholera has killed at least 484 people there. More than 11,700 cases have been recorded since August, it said, calling the outbreak the worst in 15 years. The disease is easily prevented. But Zimbabwe's inflation-wracked economy and political crisis have left it short of funds to supply clean water or maintain other normal public health measures.
Private equity giant KKR & Co. declined to comment on a report that it is buying a minority stake in a Chinese supplier of raw milk as that nation's dairy industry struggles to recover from the melamine contamination scandal. The Bloomberg news service said New York-based KKR will invest $100 million in Modern Farm of Anhui Province. China's health ministry, updating casualties from the scandal for the first time since Sept. 21, raised the number of infant deaths from three to six and those sickened from drinking tainted formula from 50,000 to almost 300,000.
